Batismoooooooooowoohoooooo

Monday, July 6, 2015

This past week I really saw the power of the Book of Mormon as we prepared our friend, Fernanda, during her last week for her baptism. She was a reference from a less active member and we called her right away and from the very first lesson she told us she wanted to be baptized because she had already been reading the Book of Mormon and learning about the church. She told us how spiritually strong she always felt as she read and every time we sat and talked with her and taught about the gospel. She told us that everything about the church makes sense to her, not just in her heart but also in her head. All because she was reading and preparing herself before we even got there.

An apostle of the Lord once said that if you take away the Book of Mormon from our church you have no religion. This sacred book is the keystone of our religion and the most correct book of any on the earth. I would like to add my testimony and witness to that statement as I have seen the power that it has in my own life and conversion, and in the lives of the people that I teach. I love seeing people change because of a testimony, but seeing peoples lives change because of the testimony of many ancient prophets and true followers of Christ teaches me that the righteous men who wrote the book really were called of God.

I love this church and feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it. As the Introduction to the Book of Mormon invites us, we have to read and ponder and have a real desire to know. Then if we ask God in faith, He will show unto each one of us, in his own time and way that what we are reading and learning is true.

Com amor

Sister Anderson

my "daugther" "cookin" in the apron from the Andergrands

when i received 3 packages that one time

Sister Mcmakin's first time eating Brigadeiro!

Fernanda eating a "York" from the states. she loved it. 

she was so sick at her own baptism but when she came out of the water she told us "I'm healed" :)

"the happiest moment of my life"

literally 5 seconds before it was run over...

FOOOOOOOOD

One more transfer in Franca with my "Filha"

Monday, June 29, 2015

We got the transfer news on Saturday and I'll be finishing the training of my "daughter".  We get to stay here in our cold city! But for reals...it's pretty cold here and we even had to buy more blankets (also because we wanted to avoid using the ones that probably have small pox.) That was for Sister Weber :) But anyways my beautiful mother is inspired and I received a sweater in the mail that I use always so i don't freeze here in the Brazilian tundra.

We had a zone conference this last week in Ribeirâo Preto and it was way cool to see a lot of missionaries again after a while of not seeing them. However, the one missionary that wasn't there that I wanted to see was Sister Kelly. She was on the other side of the mission and had already had here conference a couple days before. She goes home today and I'm pretty sad about it actually. I know that she has to end here mission after a year and a half, but i want her to just stay here...I truly believe in friendships from the pre-mortal existence and she was right by my side in the war in heaven, I'm sure of it! She is a wonderful missionary, friend, and I gained a sister is Christ. I love her and am so grateful for the positive and instructive example she showed me daily for almost 5 months. Just praying that she will come to the states for my wedding! (which by the way MOM will be in the future, after I get home) haha, or ill just have to come back to brazil! Her family already invited me!

We had a ward talent show this week and went through the missionary schedule with Sister Mcmakin as my legs and me as the body and another sister in our zone as the voice! It was SO much fun and so good to see the ward united and happy and growing closer together!

Just a random thought from the conference that we had from our President Brum. He said that a mission stops being a sacrifice and turns into an eternal investment the moment we are converted unto Christ. I can always improve but I'm truly receiving my spiritually salary right now and I'm very happy to be serving the Lord!

até mais! com amor

Sister Anderson

9 months!!!

Monday, June 22, 2015

I have completed half my time here in Brazil and I find myself thinking that i don't want the time to end!! It's really interesting how much a mission changes your perspectives and changes you. For example, the fact that I cant write in English anymore. haha But the fact that some of our strongest investigators are the owners of an açaí shop that me and my companion always go to. They are investigators because we just started a conversation one day and then we taught them, and then they went to church, and now they want to be baptized...that's missionary work. Find people to baptize from the places you like to eat, haha But really, missionary work is something SO different every day because you never know where you will find someone. You just know that if you pray to the Lord for guidance, HE WILL GUIDE YOU.

I am really grateful to my father who taught mew the importance and necessity to pray to our loving Heavenly Father and offer our gratitude, but to always ask with a sincere heart for the things we want and the things we need. I heard a quote once that says, "prayers change us and we change things." I'm grateful for my parents who always instituted the importance of family prayer and that we needed to say our individual prayers as well. Ever since I was little I can remember my father holding me and helping me pray or him coming into to my room "secretly" when I would be praying at night. On this (day after) Fathers Day, I want to say how grateful I am for the man that has always provided for our family and has taught me how to pray and communicate with my Father in Heaven. We have a lot of father figures in our lives but no one can replace how I feel about my Daddy and the friend, instructor, and provider that he is to me. I love you Dad.

Sis Anderson

P.S. ive never once forgotten what you told me when you said "you cant hold back a determined Anderson" THAT IS TOO TRUE :)

"9 months"

a HUGE pair of pants :)

and more puppies

Helping the Blind to See

Monday, June 15, 2015

I had such a spiritual moment this week as we were waiting for a member to go to a lesson. A man in a suit coat and tie and a walking stick passed us. The sun was beating down so hard and yet he had a huge smile on his face. My companion and I then noticed after a few moments of observing this happy man that he was blind and was really struggling to walk and find his way. We went over to him and as he grabbed onto my arm I asked him where he was headed all dressed up. He replied, "My daughter, I'm going to church!" We asked him where the church was and as he told us we discovered that it was another 10 minutes up the hill and on the other side. He had been planning to make it there on his own like he always does. I marveled at this man of great faith. He had more vision in the importance of worshiping God than those who have physical eyes to see. It really touched me in that moment that I was being a servant to the Lord as I led the physically blind with the best vision of faith that I have seen. I marvel at these everyday moments that we sometimes pass by to be strengthened by the faith of others and leave someone who is struggling by the wayside. Our small act of kindness did more for me that day as I saw an example of pure faith. He truly relies on the Lord daily, just as I am trying to do. I love my Savior and I know that he is the one who guides us in the confusion when our eyes seem to be darkened and we are "blinded" by the evils of the world.

com amor,

Sister Anderson

Alfahor! (I dont think that's how you spell it) but we got them from an Argentinian Elder and it reminded me of my brother cam who served there!

Pastels!!!!!

Me sister Mcmakin and one of the families we are teaching :)

Our GOLDEN investigator

Monday, June 8, 2015

So we had a day this week when 8 of our appointments fell through and we ended the day with little success in the way of numbers. BUT, the next day we contacted a reference from a member and she is PERFECT! She had already started reading the Book of Mormon (don't even know how she already had it) the week before and said that she had been praying for someone to help her complete her promise to the Lord that she would show Him her gratitude for saving her life and follow the path that the Lord would show her. She has SO MUCH faith and I'm blown away by her spiritual maturity. We had our first lesson on Saturday and she came to church on Sunday and we scheduled her baptismal date for the last Saturday of this month! I LOVE SEMINÁRIO! This area is seriously my promised land and I really feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'm also having to work the hardest I've ever had to work though, with being a trainer, and being the only sisters in the zone, and working in this area and ward that has had a a really hard and sad history with the members themselves and with other sisters.

I found a scripture (in Portuguese because I haven't used my English ones since December) in Luke 9:23

"Se alguam quer vir após mim, negue-se a si mesmo, e tome cada dia a sua cruz, e siga-me."

I'm really learning what it means to take upon myself the cross and follow Christ and to treat every soul as precious and important and valued. I love this work and I love this gospel, and while I am almost have way through this wonderful process, I don't ever want it to end. I am an instrument in the hands of my Heavenly Father and I am inviting souls unto Christ for the first time and for many just to come back to our Good Shepherds fold.
I love my Savior. He is the Good Shepherd. He will leave the 99 and come after that one lost sheep if we show him where to find us and that we want to be rescued.

COM AMOR

sis anderson

#7!!!!!!

Got me a new watch!

Delighted in the work of the Lord

Monday, June 1, 2015

This week was wayyyy good and wayyyyy hard! We went to Daniel´s baptism on Monday (he's the son of some of my favorite members) and we met a lot of non-member friends of the family! On top of that, the same family brought a young couple to church the Sunday before and we were able to go and start teaching them! While they still don't have a date, they accepted the baptismal challenge and we are working a lot with them! It's really quite funny because he is 21 and his wife is 19 and they have a one year old baby...We still haven't had the conversation of "How old are you guys?" but when we do I think it'll be even funnier. haha We also may or may not have had ANOTHER BAPTISM!! I love this area so much and the people even more. We are really having a lot of success and it makes me so happy to feel like the Lord is satisfied with my obedience and work and dedication of every ounce of energy that I give to him. When it hits 10 o'clock on P-Days, all I do is sleep because we literally walk and work so much during the week...I LOVE IT! It's such a good feeling to be so tired form serving so hard!

With that said, this opportunity to train is also taking it out of me. Lucky for me "my daughter" is really cool and we have a lot of fun together. Sister McMakin (to tell you a little more about her) actually happens to be a genius. Like she graduated from college while she was in high school genius. She is really funny though because she LOVES cats and has these cat socks that I make fun of all the time. So I'm making her sound like the typically really weird nerdy kid but shes actually way beautiful and fun and we get along really well. She's just in that "I'm frustrated because I still can't speak Portuguese very well" stage but she is learning so fast, as am I. I'm learning SO much from this experience and while it is sometimes painful, and sometimes hard, and sometimes both, we are growing together and the Lord is blessing us!

On top of our WONDERFUL baptism we also were so surprised to see a less active mom, daughter, and granddaughter come to church after almost 2 and a half years of being inactive. I cried a little. haha SO MANY MIRACLES! God is SO Great!

até mais

Sister Anderson

Daniel and his baptism :)

Sister McMakin´s vein that exploded because she wasn't used to walking so much...

Edinaldo!!!!

She broke the mission rules and was riding a horse

The Promised Land with my Daughter!

Monday, May 25, 2015

So I'm in Franca still and I'm training a new American missionary! woohooo!!! Sister Mcmakin is from Salt Lake City, Utah and spent one transfer in a Washington mission waiting for her visa. A week ago she flew straight from Washington to Brazil by herself. She said that it was quite an adventure. haha So we are having a communication problem because it turns out that I'm really bad at speaking English and my translation from Portuguese to English is apparently very wrong. Who knew that I wouldn't remember how to speak my native language. All the missionaries here call me the Brazilian-American and then I laugh when I remember that I can't even speak English anymore...

We have a lot of work here and the members are starting to give us more references of people to teach! We are already going to have another baptism this Saturday of Edinaldo who has been going to church for about 5 months now and already goes to institute regularly...HE IS A GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR! We a re really excited to be a part of this covenant that he has been preparing to make :)

Something really cool that we have been doing is having mini practice lessons with our neighbors to help Sis Mcmakin with the language and feel more comfortable teaching, We go over to our neighbors (who are both member families) and act like they are investigators. It's helping a lot and its pretty funny :)

Anyway I'm starting a whole new adventure and applying a lot of patience and a lot of love to this new companionship and the work that we have. I know how it is to be new and American and not to be able to express myself so its helping her a lot. Well at least she says that! The Lord always knows best and I learn that more and more every day!

Com amor

Sister Anderson

My MTC companion Sister Clement and I waithing for our daughters together

All the trainers! And then of course my mom Sister Kelly just happened to be there to see her daughter train haha

Sister McMakin and her first time trying Açaí!

Mom teaches her daughter to eat yummy food :)

8 day old puppy :)